Twins peak...

Then Charlie and Craig Reid have always polarized opinions with their music. And with latest album Life With You out this week the twins appear to have found route one back into hearts and minds again.

The album follows the record-breaking success of their Matt Lucas and Peter Kay-aided Comic Relief version of I'm Gonna Be (500 miles), the classic rabble-rouser that revived interest in the boys and has prompted a massive UK tour which arrives at Sheffield City Hall on October 23.

The record is out on W14 Music, a label run by John Williams, their first producer and A&R man who spotted them on '80s show The Tube in 1987.

It is apt, therefore, that catchy lead single Life With You is a love song in the classic Proclaimers mould; sing-a-long lyrics and a brassy Motown feel.

"It's simply talking about wanting to live your life with somebody," say the boys, who have made a smile-raising video to go with it.

Not everything on the new record is quite so jolly, of course. The dark events that have clouded global politics since their last album, for example, haven't gone un-noticed.

"This is a song about the unavoidable disaster which has befallen America over the last few years over their involvement in Iraq," they say of The Long Haul.

"We've got people like John Reid saying we could be fighting this so-called war on terrorism for 50 years and we've got the Neocons in America talking about it like it's some kind of crusade. It's a very depressing thought that this crusade could be going on for decades more."

S-O-R-R-Y also touches on the debacle in the Gulf. "It's really about the people. I'm talking mostly about newspaper columnists who were the cheerleaders for the war and the invasion.

"Many people who write for newspapers have never been involved in any military action and never will be, but seem to think it's all right to encourage us to send our daughters and sons into wars. And when it goes pear-shaped, like it has, they're not even prepared to admit they were wrong."

Never ones to shy away from controversy in lyricism, the Reids have been inspired to pen Here It Comes Again about the dangerous spotlight thrown on violence in song and the glorifying of gangsters.

"We don't mind songs about any subjects but it seems there's been a lot more of them in the last few years. And sometimes it gets monotonous to hear a constant stream of hymns to violence and blatant misogyny and nobody bats an eyelid."

In Recognition could also make a few ears prick up, celebrity ones at that. "This is about our overwhelming contempt for people on the left in this country who snipe against the royal family and then end up taking honours," they say, without naming names.

"For people who believe in the monarchy - we don't, we're republicans - that's fair enough, we don't have a problem with that. But we feel total contempt for people who declare they're against the monarchy but then think it's okay to take an honour in later life."

When all is said and done, though, Craig and Charlie still give their music a sense of humour alongside matters of heart and mind. Blood Lying On Snow, for example, is a classic ode to male frustration.

"This is a lust song," they readily admit, "about seeing a lady and just wanting to have some kind of relationship with her - not one that's going to last, but something that might just last a few nights."

No idea what they mean. The Proclaimers are still an act you either love or loathe, but this is certainly not frilly stuff.

Tickets for the show cost 22.50 from the venue box office via sheffieldcityhall.co.uk or from 0114 2789 789